The Black Talon changed the way everyone looked at Jade.
That irritated her more than the laughter had.
By six the next morning, rumors were spreading across the compound.
Nobody knew the truth, but that never stopped soldiers from creating better versions.
Jade had supposedly been CIA.
Then Delta.
Then some unnamed intelligence assassin.
Someone claimed she had thirty confirmed kills.
Someone else said fifty.
By breakfast, a mechanic swore Jade had once spent eleven days alone behind enemy lines.
Jade ignored all of it.
She went to the range.
Martinez ordered Collins, Reed, me, and two other operators to attend.
Collins didn’t complain.
Not anymore.
The morning was cold.
Fog hung against the distant hills.
Jade carried the Black Talon in its locked case.
When she opened it, Collins watched silently.
The rifle was customized for precision work—specialized optic, adjustable stock, suppressed platform, components I couldn’t identify.
Jade checked every mechanism without hurry.
Reed stood beside me.
“She knows it.”
“That proves she has used the model.”
Reed shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“Look at her left thumb.”
I looked.
Jade ran it across a tiny scratch near the rear of the stock.
“She remembers that scratch,” Reed said.
Jade closed her eyes briefly.
He was right.
This wasn’t a similar weapon.
It was hers.
Martinez apparently reached the same conclusion.
“That rifle belonged to you?”
Jade opened her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How long has it been in Vault Three?”
“Nine years.”
Collins stared.
“Why would they keep it?”
Jade adjusted the optic.
“Ask General Gerald.”
Collins glanced away.
That was as close to embarrassment as I had ever seen from him.
Martinez handed Jade ammunition.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
She took position.
Eight hundred yards.
First target.
The range officer raised his hand.
Jade breathed.
One shot.
Hit.
No celebration.
One thousand yards.
Wind picked up.
Another shot.
Hit.
Collins’ expression changed.
Twelve hundred.
Hit.
Then Martinez gave her something more difficult.
Moving steel.
Unfamiliar angle.
Limited preparation.
Jade watched for perhaps four seconds.
Shot.
Hit.
The sound echoed through the valley.
Nobody laughed.
She lowered the rifle.
“That enough?”
Martinez almost smiled.
“Yeah.”
Collins approached.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Collins looked at the ground.
“I was out of line yesterday.”
Jade studied him.
“You were.”
Collins seemed surprised she didn’t make it easier.
“I shouldn’t have laughed.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Sorry.”
Jade returned her attention to the rifle.
“Don’t apologize because I can shoot.”
Collins frowned.
“Then why?”
“Apologize because you decided what I was capable of before you knew anything about me.”
That landed harder than anger would have.
Collins nodded slowly.
“Fair.”
Jade closed the rifle case.
And that should have ended it.
Except General Gerald arrived at the range.
“Monroe.”
Jade looked toward him.
“We need to talk.”
They walked away.
I didn’t intend to listen.
But twenty minutes later Gerald called Martinez and me into his office.
A secure intelligence packet sat on his desk.
Jade stood near the window.
Gerald closed the door.
“Soren changed the extraction timeline.”
Martinez cursed under his breath.
“When?”
“Intelligence intercepted movement orders overnight. The hostages leave tomorrow evening.”
“That cuts preparation by twenty-four hours.”
“Yes.”
Jade looked at the map.
“He knows we’re coming.”
Gerald didn’t deny it.
Martinez’s face hardened.
“How?”
“That’s what concerns me.”
I leaned forward.
“You think someone leaked it?”
“I know someone did.”
Gerald placed a photograph on the desk.
Viktor Soren looked ordinary.
Middle-aged.
Gray suit.
Receding hairline.
He looked like somebody’s accountant.
Jade stared at the photograph.
“You’re sure?”
“Facial confirmation is ninety-eight percent.”
She looked away.
Martinez asked, “What aren’t you telling us?”
Gerald was silent.
Jade answered.
“Soren wasn’t just an informant.”
She turned toward us.
“He trained with us.”
Gerald exhaled.
“He helped establish Project Talon.”
Martinez looked stunned.
“So he knows the procedures.”
“Every procedure we used at the time,” Jade said. “Observation methods. Movement patterns. Emergency extraction protocols.”
“And yours?”
Jade looked at him.
“Yes.”
Martinez swore.
Gerald pointed at the map.
“He may be expecting Monroe specifically.”
“Then she doesn’t go,” Martinez said.
Jade immediately shook her head.
“You need me.”
“That’s not the point.”
“It’s exactly the point.”
Martinez stepped closer.
“If this guy knows you better than we do, you become a vulnerability.”
Jade’s eyes hardened.
“He knew me nine years ago.”
“You think that changes everything?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Jade looked at the rifle case.
“Because nine years ago, I wanted revenge.”
The room quieted.
“And now?”
“I want those hostages alive.”
Gerald watched her carefully.
That answer satisfied him.
Martinez remained uncertain.
I understood why.
Operations failed when personal history entered the battlefield.
But Gerald had another problem.
“We believe the leak is inside this installation.”
That silenced everyone.
“Who?” I asked.
“We don’t know.”
Gerald opened another folder.
“Only twelve people knew the exact extraction date before yesterday.”
Martinez looked at him.
“People in this room?”
“Yes.”
Nobody spoke.
Gerald continued.
“That means from this point forward, the operational plan is compartmentalized.”
He gave Martinez one envelope.
Me another.
Jade received nothing.
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you’re going to create the plan.”
Martinez frowned.
“She is?”
Gerald nodded.
“Soren expects military doctrine. He expects my decisions.”
His eyes settled on Jade.
“He doesn’t know hers anymore.”
That afternoon, the briefing room transformed.
Jade stopped being the quiet maintenance technician.
She became something else.
Not louder.
Not more aggressive.
Just impossibly focused.
She redrew the insertion route.
Moved the communication relay.
Changed the extraction point.
Removed two vehicles.
Added a medical contingency.
When Harris challenged one decision, Jade explained three ways the original approach could be compromised.
When Reed suggested a flank route, she adjusted it rather than dismissing him.
When Collins identified a problem with the southern ridge, she listened.
That surprised him.
“You agree?”
“You’re right.”
Collins blinked.
“Okay.”
Jade looked at him.
“Try not to sound disappointed.”
A few men laughed.
This time Jade almost smiled.
The tension eased.
But underneath everything was the suspicion of a traitor.
Gerald ordered electronic access audits.
I reviewed communications logs.
Martinez checked personnel movement.
Nothing surfaced.
Then at 2100, Jade found something.
She entered the communications room carrying a folded sheet of paper.
“Daniel.”
It was the first time she had used my first name.
“What?”
“When did this print?”
She placed a maintenance report beside me.
“Yesterday morning.”
“Who requested it?”
I checked.
“Automated system.”
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“This equipment wasn’t scheduled for diagnostics.”
I examined the serial number.
A secure frequency module.
Someone had accessed it twelve hours before Gerald received confirmation of the leak.
I pulled system logs.
The access request came from Weapons Systems.
Jade’s department.
Her credentials.
I stared at her.
She saw my expression.
“I didn’t request it.”
“Someone used your login.”
“Yes.”
The door opened behind us.
Collins entered.
“Martinez wants—”
He stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked at Jade.
“We found the leak.”
Collins’ hand instinctively moved toward his sidearm.
Jade noticed.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because whoever did this wanted it traced to me.”
Collins stared.
“How convenient.”
I looked at him.
“Her credentials were cloned.”
“You know that?”
“No.”
“Then maybe—”
Jade interrupted.
“Maybe I betrayed the operation.”
Collins said nothing.
She stepped toward him.
“If you believe that, say it.”
His jaw tightened.
“I don’t know what I believe.”
“Good.”
He frowned.
Jade nodded toward the terminal.
“Facts first.”
We called Gerald.
Within thirty minutes, the room was locked down.
The logs showed access through Jade’s credentials.
But the physical terminal used was located inside the restricted communications annex.
Jade hadn’t entered that building in three months.
Someone else had.
Security footage should have solved it.
Except eleven minutes of footage were missing.
Gerald stared at the blank timeline.
“This isn’t amateur work.”
Jade folded her arms.
“No.”
“You thinking Soren?”
“I’m thinking somebody who learned from him.”
Martinez entered with Harris.
“Operation stays on schedule.”
Gerald looked at him.
“You’re certain?”
Martinez nodded.
“If we delay, hostages disappear.”
Jade added, “And whoever leaked this expects us to panic.”
Gerald studied her.
“Can you still do this?”
Jade looked at the Black Talon case sitting against the wall.
“Yes.”
That night, as the team prepared equipment, I found Jade alone outside the armory.
She was sitting on an ammunition crate.
For once, she looked exhausted.
I sat nearby.
“Can I ask something?”
“You can ask.”
“Doesn’t mean you’ll answer?”
“Exactly.”
I smiled.
Then became serious.
“Why did you disappear?”
Jade looked across the dark flight line.
For a long time, I thought she wouldn’t answer.
“When Talon ended, everyone wanted something from me.”
“What?”
“A report. A debrief. An explanation. A name.”
She rubbed her wrist.
“I couldn’t give anyone what they really wanted.”
“Which was?”
“A reason five good people died.”
I stayed quiet.
She continued.
“The truth was simpler.”
“What truth?”
“We trusted someone.”
“Soren.”
“Yes.”
“And you blamed yourself?”
Her eyes moved toward me.
“I was team lead.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“I chose the route.”
Her voice remained steady, but barely.
“I trusted his intelligence.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Jade stood.
“Tomorrow, Soren will expect the woman who spent nine years blaming herself.”
“And what does he get?”
She picked up the rifle case.
“Someone who finally understands that surviving isn’t the same thing as owing the dead your life.”
She walked toward the hangar.
I watched her go.
And somewhere on that base, someone was watching too.
Because less than an hour later, the armory alarm sounded.
We ran inside.
Vault Three stood open.
The Black Talon case was gone.
So was Jade Monroe.
---